J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Northern France c.1826-32 > Loose Studies of Northern France > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Calais from the Sea ?1826-7

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Calais from the Sea’ ?1826-7
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Calais from the Sea ?1826–7
D20218
Turner Bequest CCXX K
Watercolour on white wove paper, 171 x 240 mm
Blind stamped with the Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCXX K’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This colour sketch, formerly assumed to be a depiction of the coastline near Dieppe,1 has been identified by Turner specialist, Ian Warrell, as a distant view of Calais from the sea.2 It is associated with material gathered by Turner on the return leg of his 1826 tour of Northern France, perhaps with the failed The English Channel or La Manche print series in mind or else the major oil composition ‘Now for the Painter’ (Rope), Passengers going on Board (Manchester City Art Galleries), which he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1827.3 See the Introduction to this section for a list of comparable studies of the city.
1
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.II, p.686.
2
Ian Warrell, Turner on the Loire, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1997, p.217, no.38.
3
Ibid. pp.159, 172–6, 211 note 9.
Verso:
Blank

John Chu
March 2016

How to cite

John Chu, ‘Calais from the Sea ?1826–7 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, March 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-calais-from-the-sea-r1185469, accessed 23 April 2024.